PhD position in the field of ocean and ice dynamics

The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research is looking for a motivated PhD candidate with a background in physics, applied mathematics, meteorology, geosciences or a related field. You will work within the EMBRACER project on ocean and ice interactions.

Your job
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and the polar ice sheets (Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets) play important roles in the climate system and have all been identified as large scale tipping elements, albeit on very different time scales. While for each of these tipping elements critical thresholds remain matter of active research, they also interact with each other. In fact, the AMOC and polar ice sheets form an intricate network of multiscale systems, with interactions that can be stabilizing or destabilizing, the latter opening the possibility of cascading tipping events.

Moreover, the interaction between these large scale systems happens via other possibly nonlinearly acting subsystems such as the North Atlantic subpolar gyre (SPG) and Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover, involving processes on smaller scales, which are often not well represented in modelling efforts focusing on the large scale tipping elements.

For this PhD position you will work on modelling the processes and feedbacks that couple the AMOC and polar ice sheets, with particular focus on sea ice and (North Atlantic) deep-water formation regions such as in the SPG. We will make use of models of different complexity up to complex Earth System models, and modelling efforts for different past periods.

A personalised training programme will be set up, reflecting your training needs and career objectives. About 20% of your time will be dedicated to this training component, which includes following courses/workshops as well as training on the job in assisting in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the department of Physics at Utrecht University.

We are looking for an ambitious and driven candidate who has:

• a MSc in physics, applied mathematics, meteorology, geosciences or a related field;
• experience in climate modeling (considered an advantage);
• basic knowledge of (geophysical) fluid dynamics (considered an advantage);
• excellent skills in scientific programming and numerical / statistical analysis of simulated and observed data.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate motivation and a strong eagerness to learn, and have the ability to both work independently and as part of a team. Previous research experience will be a distinct advantage.

• A job with national and international collaboration;
• a position for 4 years. After 18 months there will be a review. If positive, it will be 4 years;
• a fulltime working week and a gross monthly salary between € 3.059 and € 3.881 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employmentlaid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU) is part of the department of Physics. It offers a unique research and teaching environment, in which the fundamentals of the climate system are studied. Research is organised in five themes: Ice and Climate, Oceans and Climate, Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry, Coastal and Shelf Sea Dynamics and Earth System modelling. In 2022, IMAU research quality and impact were qualified as 'excellent' by an international visitation committee. Currently, IMAU employs 18 faculty members and 11 support staff and about 21 Postdocs and 24 PhD candidates.

This project is part of the 10-year EMBRACER research programme funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). At EMBRACER, we work at the very frontiers of knowledge on climate change, Earth’s climate system and climate feedbacks. The programme brings together a wide range of world-leading climate experts with the aim to address existing uncertainties about climate feedbacks at the boundaries between oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere. Our interdisciplinary approach and state-of-the-art infrastructure will bring us forward in our understanding of the impact of climate feedbacks emerging over the next decades to centuries.